Telegraph system



mi@ am 1926.

LSQA@ VV. C. PETEFMN TELEGRAPH SYSTEM Filed April 28. 1922 5 SheebS-Sheel) l 25 telegraphy and Vice versa.

Patented Aug. 31, 1926,

UNITED ST1-rifas raifan'r oFFIC-nf wILLIAM c. PETERMAN, orr BROOKLYN,

NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW.

YORK.' l

TELEGRAPH SYSTEM.

Application filled April 28, 1922. SerialNo. 557,048.

This invention relates to telegraph systems and more particularly to telegraph repeaten systems.

The principal obj-ect of this invention is to provide an improved organization of ap- Y vparatus which Will enable the rotary repeater to be used efficiently in repeating from one linev section to another line section, as from one submarine cable to another, from a cable to a land line or vice versa or from one land section to another.

It hasbeen pointed out in prior patents by telegraphic engineers 'of recognized standing, that in the development of telegraphic systems, it has always been recognized that submarine or cable telegraphylrelates to a field ofsignaling practice Well defined and'distinct from signaling practice in connection with lland lines, such divergence being due to the marked difference in the electrical characteristics of submarine cables as compared with land lines. So 'true is this that a vsystem perfectly satisfactory upon a land line would be unsuited fior cable Y In 'submarine cable working it'h'as not `been possible to obtain speeds in transmission at. all comparable witlr-th'e relatively high` speed at which land lines are operated. The electrical constants of different cables'ditl'er and require different ratios of current and earthing periods. One of thepurposes of my invention is to render -it possible to readily vary the duration of I current impulses as they are retransmitted "by the repeater to suit the conditions of any particular cable and to materially 1ncrease the speed of transmission.

A further object'of this invention is to 40 provide apparatus which will repeat the impulses from one cable Ito another in a inanner to rectify the repeated impulses true to predeterminedV form irrespective of distorted or mutilated condition of the received impulses and to restorethem to unit time duration in proper relation to the other impulses in the code.

lFurthermore I provide means for receiving block signals, wherein an impuls-e eX- tends over a period representingl a plurality of successive unit impulses and for breaking them up into separate impulses corvrespondingto said original component unit impulses and.' retransmlttmg them as regenerated or new unit impulses of proper form 65 and of any desired lengths.

The rotaryllrepeater hasheretofore -been e adapted only to the trarismissiom-f' code signals having the same number oit impulses yin each code character such as the five-unit code of Baudot'. cach of such characters being confined to the segments within a single quadrant ot the segmented ring ofthe ro tary repeater. Furthermore,.the code `characters were made up of only plus and minus impulses. lIn my present invention the code characters may have difl'erentv lengths as in the Morse or Cable-Morse Codes and a character may be transmitted through segments -extendingover successive quadrants of the distributer and may be made up of plus, minus and zero impulses. Moreover the vcharacters may begin at any point in the distributor and follow each other in succession.

In the following description, I shall refer to the accompanying drawings, in lWhich only so muchl otv a tel-egraphic equipment has, been shown as will be necessary toa clear understanding of the invention. i'

Figure l 'illustrates an equipment suitable forA a repeater system embodying my invention and ivherein the duration ot the repeated impulses ar-e somewhat less than the full marking period Fig. 2 is an alternative arrangementof the equipment Whichis capable ortransmitting repeated impulses esI .having a durationl of the full marking Vperiodylhg. 3 1s a further modification of ymy invention wherein different sets of impulse receiving and storingA instruments are actuated alternately and the -repeated im-` pulses may have a duration equal to the full marking period; andI Fig. 4: represents anv equipment suitable for a transmitting station having an automatic tape-controlled transmitter operating in synchronism with therotary repeater at the repeating station. `Figs. l and 2 illustrate repeater organizations which are arranged to repeat impulses received from cable Ainto cable B. The i' same reference characters will be employed in so far as lnay be expedient in designating like or similarly functioning parts.

The impulses are received as usual at the cable terminal A upon a drum relay 25, or other suitable cable' relay, the local dot relay 27 or dash relay 28 being selectively energized according to whether the needle arm 26 swings over the disk 25a or over the disk 25". If itis assumed that the armature of local relay 27 swings over into dotted line position against itsright-hand contact, current will flow from the minus or negative side of the battery 30,'through armature of relay 27,` conductor 31, the first segment of.

each `quadrant of receiving ring 36 of the disk head of the repeater distributer brush 41, solid ring 36a, conductor 50, the energizing coils e of locking or storing relays 52 and 53, conductor 54, to neutral point 55 ofthe battery. The armature of relay 52 1l will be moved against its right-hand contactl and as the brush 4l moves from the first `seginent or pair ot segments .of the ring 36 onto .the set of eight segments which are strapped together and connected to conductor 60, a. circuit being thereby established from the negative pole of battery 30 through conductor 61, armature of relay 52 energiz- .ing coil e of transmitting relay 62, con uctor 60, first s'etbf strappedconductors of `ring 36,`brush 41, solid ring 36, conductor 50, coils of locking relays 52 and 53, conductor 54 tothe neutral point 55 or split of the battery. It is evidentA that the relays 52 and 53will be energized or locked7 duri ing the time the brush 41 is passing over of one or the other 'of the transmitting re- 5 .lays 62 and 63 as the brush 41 is moved over the distributer rings 36 and 36'u will be evident from thel circuits above traced. The biasing-coils b and circuitsA which serve to normally bias the relay armatures against the `left-hand contacts or stops are indicated in dotted'lines.-

-The segmented rings and the plain or solid rings of the rotary distributer RD of the repeated equipment are shown in developed form after the convention usually employed to represent a rotary distributer. The rotating brushes 40, 41, 42 are arried by the axle of a La Cour phonic motor, illustrated in the usual conventional manner by the rotor PW and field magnets DM', DM2. The current pulsations, which energize the field magnets are maintained substantially uniform by means of the tuning fork F in a manner well understood. A suitable known synchronizing arrangement (not shown) will be understood as present to `maintain the' brushes in step with impulses incoming rom the cable A, the preferred synchronizing device being disclosed in U. S. patent to Yorke t Benjamin No. 1,298,622, granted March 25, 1919. vln conjunction with said synchronizing` device, I employ a mechanical phase corrector illustrated in the usual conventional manner within the dotted rectangle at the upper right-hand corner of the diagram. Inasmuch as this phase corrector is accurately described in U. S. patent to Rothermel No. 1,253,889, granted January 15, 1918, it is unnecessary to describe it herein. 1n this method ot correcting for slight variations in phase, the correction is efected by dot impulses or by reversals in the code impulses, the correction taking place at the instant of change .or starting movement, ofthe impulses. The corrector apparatus is controlled by a ringf35 on the rotary distributer RD, which is connected at -symmetrical points in cach quadrant to the conductor 39. A svnchronizing ring 37 on the rotary distributer RD is'provided-With groups of successive segments which are connected respectively to .a series of incandescent lamps.

Each of said groups of the ring 37, occupies a position in alinement with the space intervening between two segments onv the ring 35 that are connected to the vconductor 39. Then the solid ring 37 is connected through' the switch arm 33 with the right-hand contact of the corrector relay CL,the instant of change from' one impulse to the next with respect to the segments on the synchronizing ring can be notedby observing which of the lamps is first lighted. The brushes 40, 41 and 42 are thenv oriented either forward or backward until the instant of change occurs when the brush 42 is on the first of the connected group of segments in the ring 37. It will Vbe observed that the pairs of' pick-up7 segments p' in the .ring 36 which are connected to the conductors 60 and 60', leading respectively to the energizing -rcoils of the transmitting relays 62 and 63 are located midway between the first and llast of theconnected groups of segments on the synchronizing'ring 37 and consequently when the brushes have been oriented to the proper position in the manner above specified so that the beginning of the received impulse occurs rwhen the brushes are in alinement with the segment connected to the first synchronizinglamp, the 'brush 41 will reach thesegments p at instants corresponding to the middle portion of the incoming impulses. As a result of this Aarrangement the transmitting relays 62 and 63 will not be energized until the middle and steadiest portions of the respective incoming impulses are recelved. The transmitting relay which is energized at any vof these vmiddle points of lll() Vawaits" an incoming impulse will be maintained in sending-on position during the entiretime required for the brush 41 to 'pass over the succeeding group of locking segments l which maintain the locklng or storing relays 52 and 53 in energized or lockedWcon- Duri-ng this period tbe cable B isdition. connected to the cable battery'() either by the relay 62 or relay 63 and at the end of each of these periods the armatures of said relays are moved against their lett hand,

' mined by the number of segments which are connected together in the groups Z inthe ring 36 and these time periods maybe adj usted to suit the lconditions of any particu- .lar cable.

In the above described repeater system the transmitted impulses are always somewhat shorter than the full unit period of an impulse. Ihave devised a modification, illustrated in Fig. 2, in 'Which the transmitted impulses may have a periodequal to the full unit time of a code impulse. The parts which correspond with those in- Fig. 1 have been designated by the same reference-characters and consequently require no further explanation. Upon tracing'the circuits in Fig. 2 it will be observed that current from the battery 30 impressed upon the segments 7) of the segmented receiving ring 36 flows by way ot 'soli-d ring 36n and conductor 50 through the energizing coils e of locking relays 52 and 53 and the transmitting relays 62 and 63 in series, back to the neutral point 55 of the battery by way of conductor 54. ln this manner one or the other of the transmitting-relays connects the cable B With cable battery 70, the instant the incoming impulse. which actuates one or the other of the local relays 27 'and Q8 'is transmitted through the segment 7) of the distributer ring 36, As the brush 41. passes from the segment, or pair of segments 79 onto the succeeding group of connected segments Z. the locking relays 52, 53 Will be maintained in energized condition or locked-up by current from battery 30 flowing through either conductor 6l or -61 and the armature of eitherjrelay 52er relay which was pre- `viously moved against its right hand contact and a circuit will be maintained through the coils ot the transmitting relays by the same armaturc. From this it is evident. that the transmitting relays may be caused to connect cable B to the cable battery Yduring the entire unit period ascribed to a code impulse.` v

In the repeating system last described in connection with the diagram shown in Fig. 2, there is a possibility of slight Variations inthel length of the transmitted impulses, due to any variations which may oc-v cur at ythe instant of starting in the fim- .pulses received. For the purpose of overcoming the possibility of thisslight variation and making it possible te form the transmitted impulses of full unit length With exceeding accuracy, lI have devised a \further.modiication illustrated in the diagramshown in Fig. 3, wherein two independent sets of locking relays are employed alternately to control the transmitting or,

sending-onrelays;l I have shown the rotary distributer of the repeater provided with only three sets of rings but it will be understood that other rings for the. synchronizing and phase correcting mechanism will be employed in the-same 'manner as described in connection with the repeater' systems illustrated in Figs. 1" and Q. Furthermore, l have shown only therotor PlV of the La Cour motor for .driving the brushes in Figs. 3 and 4, omitting also the 'illustration of the controlling timing fork F illustrated in the other figures.

The operation of the repeater shown in Fig. 3 will` be understood by engineers by following the diagram of circuits. Thus` assuming that the brushes of the rotary distributer are moving downwardly in the diagram, as the brush 65 moves over the first four segments of the ring 73,- a circuity Will be closed through the resetting coils 7- of the locking relays 52.l and 53 as followsz-from the plus side of battery SO through conductor 72. solid-ring 73, brush 65, first. set of strapped segments in ring 73, conductor T8, resetting coils r of' the rclays 52 and 53, conductors 79 and S0 to the minus pole o t the battery. This will cause the armatures of the relays 52 and to more against their left hand stops. Asthe brushes continue their movement, the brush 66 traverses the first set ot strapped ments of the transmitting ring 74. Assuming that the preceding` incoming code signal impulse has been set up on the locking relay 52 by causing its armature to swing over against its right hand contact,'a eircuit will be established through the brush 66 as follows:-from the negative pole ot battery 30 ,through conductor SO.' armature and right hand contact o'f locking relay 52 conductor 81, vfirst npperset ot strapped segments in ring 74, brush 66, solid ring 74, conductor 82 coils o't cable transmittingr relays 63,- 62 and conductor 83 to the neutral point or split ofthe battery.

This causes the armature oi the relay 62 to riod ot this rimpulse may beI made any d`e sired length up to the full unit length yby strapping together the required number of segments in the ring 74. During the transmission of the impulse which has been locked up on the relay 52', as above dcscribed, the brush 67 will cross the first seg-ment p in the pick-up ring 75 and v close a circuit from one or the otlie-r of the local relavs 27 or 23 of the incoming cable,

through the energizing coil e of the corresponding locking relay 52 or 53. Thus assuming that an incoming impulse over the cable A has caused the armature ot the local relay 27 to move against its right hand brush 67, solid ring75a and conductor S7 fie back to the neutral point or split of the battery. The armature of the polarizedlrelay 53 movesl over and remains against its right-hand Contact, thereby locking up a plus impulse through its armature which will be employed subsequentlyr to actuate the cable relay 63. As the brushes continue their movement and just as the brush 66 leaves the first set of strapped segments in ring 74the brush 65 moves onto the second set of strapped segments of ring 73, thereby establishing a circuit from `the battery 30 through the resetting or clearing-out coils r' of'the relays 52 and 53', by way of the conductors 72, 89,' 79'and 80. The armatures of thepolarized relays 52 and 53 are' thus reset against theirleft-hand stops and;

are ready to receive the next incoming "eable impulse. Noting again the progressief the brushes, as the brush 66l moves onto the second set of strapped segments in the ring 74, a circuitis closed through the armature of relay 53, (which it Will be remembered was previously set or lockedagainst its right-hand contact when the brush .67

crossed the {irs't segment p of ring 75), asV

follows z-rom the positive pole .ofbattery 30, through conductor 90, armature of relay 53, conductor 91, second set of strapped segments of ring 74, b-rush 66, solid ring 74, conductor 82,' coils Aof cable transmit-r ting relays 63 and 62,!and conductorl 8310 the splitl of the battery 30. The armature of relay 63 is thereby moved over against i its right-hand contact, thus connecting-cable B to the plus pole of cable battery 70.

It appears from the above detailed. description of the circuits of Fig. 3. that one set of locking-relays iscleared or reset 1 and again receives and holds-a new' incoming impulse While the other set of locking relays is causing the previous impulse to be a sent into the cable B, each set of locking relays being thus independent ofthe other seti. It has been further observed that the iicmber ot segments in the transmitting ring 74, which are tied or strapped together to determine the length ot' the impulse transmitted, may be varied as desired up to unit length of a code impulse and that the location of the pick-up segments p in each quadrant of' the ring 75, may be such that the locking-up or storing relays are actuated at the instant when the incoming impulses over the cable A, have reached their middle or best and steadiest ortion.

In telegiaphic systems em odying rotary distributer equipment at the repeater stations, it is desirable that the transmitting stat-ion should also embody rotary distributers having means for varying the percentage of marking up to the full unit value of a lcode impulse. vided'. a transmitting equipment, shown diagrammatically in Fig.v 4, which includes tivo sets ot' locking relays used alternately ina manner similar to the arrangement at the repeater station shown in Fig. 3. I einploy'a tape-controlled transmitter of the Well-known lVheatstone type but modified to Vpermit the use of zero impulses as Well as plus and minus impulses, and operated by a La Cour phonic motor, the operating shaft ot the transmitter being operatively connected to the axle Vof the motor which drives the brushes or" the rotary distributer.

I have indicated the La Cour motor in Fig. 4 merely by the rotor or phonic wheel 131V.

of connecting it'to the La Cour motor Will klie-understood by reference toll. S. patent t DonaldMu'rray No. 670,964 dated April 2, 1901. For convenience in applying the parts indicated to the corresponding parts 'inthe patent, the same parts have been des-- the pivot rod 28, thereby depressing the ttape engaging pins 42, 43, the tape being simultaneously stepped' forward by lthe sprocket 39. As the striking arm 24 movesv upwardly, the.` pins 42, 143 are moved up- 'Wardly against thetape by their springs 30.

If the pin 42 passes through a perforation, its,c.ontact 31 engages the iixed contact 36, closing a circuit through conductor 101, (thereby. energizing' coil e of relay l102) through conductor 110, pick-up segment or segments p of setting up ring 115, of the rotary distributer'RD, brush 118, solid ring 115, battery 121, and conductor 123 and this results in moving the armature of I have accordingly pr0-A The fragmentary illustration of the tape-controlled transmitter and thin'aiier dash relay 102 against its right-hand contact. This closes a locking or holding circuit from battery 125, through conductor 126, armature of relay 102, locking or holdmoves onto the second set or group of vzo strapped segments of transmitting ring 116. the dash impulse which is novv locked up on relay 102 is sent on to the cable dash relay l130 through a circuit from battery 125, conductor 126,armature of relay .102, conductor 132, the second set of strapped segments of transmitting ring 116, brush 119, solid ring 116, conductor 134, energizing coils e of cable relays 131 and 130, in series, and conductor 136 to tlie split of battery 125. The armature ofthe-dash relay 130 is thus moved against its right hand stop and connects the cable battery 140 to the cable A',` the impulse being con tinued 'for a period depending upon-the.

number of said segments of the transmitting ring 116 that are strapped together. rIhe next operation in sequence occurs as the brush 120 moves over the third group or set ol strapped segments in the' resetting ring 1170i the rotary distributer, thereby clos- 'ing a circuitfrom'battery 122, through solid ring 117", brush 120, the third group of strapped segments o ring 117, conductor "if 141, resetting coils 1 of relays 103 and 102,

and conductor 142, back to battery I122.

, This energizes 4the resetting coils r and "causes the armature of relay 102 to move to the left against its back stop.

If the next succeeding reciprocaton 0f the pins of the transmitter T causes the dot pin 43 to enter a perforation in the tape 37, thereby rocking the lever 270 and v .movingthe contact 32 'against the contact aio 35, a circuit Will be closed through one or the other of the storing dot relays 103, 10,5 Which Will be transmited to the sendoncable dot7 relay 131 in` a manner which Will be clear from the previous description of the operation of the dash reter tape should have no code perforations,

neither pin will be able to pass through the tape and consequently the contacts 31 and 32 will not close against the corresponding fixed contacts 36 and 35 so that no impulse Will be transmitted to the relays. Accord- 'ingly the cable Will be grounded through the back-stops of the relays 130 and 131 during the time period of this lcode impulse. That is, in telegraphic parlance, a Zero n npulse istransmitted to thacable. It will be observed that the Wheatstone transmitter has been modified `in construction to thus provide for a Zero impulse when the tape contains no perforations in any position. It Will be further observed that the tape is operated continuously by the mechanism connected to the rotor PW' of the La Cour motor which rotates the brushes ot 'the distributer RD in synchronism With the actuating impulses of the code characters. yThis continuous operation of the tape mechanism in cooperation lwith the synchronously opei'ating distributer greatly facilitates .the transmission of the code messages and by employ- 4ing separate pairs of relays Which altersponding curbing depending upon the electrical constants of the particular cable. A

It Will be understood't-hat the synchronizing and4 phase correcting mechanism at each repeating station maintains the moving parts ofthe rotary distributers at the retransmitting stations in, suitable time relation or synchronization With the associated moving parts at the transmitting stations. When no code characters are being transmitted, it is to be understood that impulses are sent periodically to-maintain the rot/ary distributers in synchronism. For the purpose of explaining my invention, I have merely shown a single channel operation, but' it Will be evident to engineers that it may be readily adapted to multi-channel operation.

1. In a telegraph system, the combination with a plurality of line sections, of a rotary distributer operating synchronously with the transmitted current'impulses, a plurality of relays coacting therewith to receive, store and transmit the separate impulses insequence, said distributer operating to clear out the .storing relays after each successive impulse of a code character, thereby permitting the distributer to receive the initial impulse of a code character at any pointin its operation and permitting the use of code characters composed of equal or unequal numbers of impulses and of `varying lengths.

2. In a. telegraph system, the combination with a plurality of line sections, oi a relaying equipment vcomprising a rotary `distributer and a plurality of relays operatively associated therewith to repeat telegraphic impulses between said line sections, said distributer operating to cause the relays to be cleared out between successive impulses of a code character. i

3. In a telegraph system, the combination with a plurality of line sections, of-a relay- *ing equipment comprising a sourceqof cur- -ing and transmitting relays, each interconnected to operatively respond-from a plurality of segments of said contactor'paths, the movable elements of said distributer operating in synchronism with the current impulsesl received from one line section and coacting with the segments of said contactor paths in conjunction with said relays, to store said received impulses, to transmit to a second line section from' said current source, im-

pulses of predetermined strength and dura- 'tion determined by the number of segments in said contactor paths that are connected together, and to clear out the storing relays between successive current impulses, there- `by restoring the repeated signal impulses to the desired Jform, duration and strength.

4. In a telegraph system, the combination with a plurality of line sections, of a relaying equipment comprising sources of current,- a rotary distributer having a plurality of segmented contactor paths, receiving, storing and transmitting means, each of said means being interconnected to, operatively respond a plurality of times during-each cyclic movement ofsaid distributer, the

movable elements of said distributeroperat\ king in synchronism with the received current.impulses and y'acting jointly with said relays. to receive, store and transmit said impulses separately in proper sequence between said line sections.`

5. In `a telegraph system, the combination of a plurality of line sections, of a -re- Jying equipment connecting said sections tary distributer,

'tion with a plurality of line or cable sections, of a relaying equipment comprising distributer means and a plurality of relays operatively associatel therewith and operating to receive a block signal from one line section having a duration equal to several component impulses of a code character, other relays associated with said Vdistributor and receiving separate impulses therefrom in a plurality of sets or groups,

corresponding to said several component im pulses, but each having any desired length independent of the length of said component impulses, said other relays operating to.

transmit said separate impulses to a second line or cable section.

7. In a telegraph system, the combination with a plurality of line or cable sections, of a relaying equipment comprising a distributor having a plurality of segmented contactor paths, a set oi: relays operatively connected to receive from one line or cable section block signals having a duration equal to the combined lengths of the successive iinpulses of like sign in a c'ode lcharacter and to transfer' said signals to the distributor, another set of relays interconnected to operatively respond from a plurality of segments ot' said distributor and to transmit to a second line or cable section, successive separate impulses corresponding to the several component impulses in the code character but having any desired predetermined duration.

S. In va telegraph system, the combination with a plurality of line or cable sections, of a relaying equipment comprising ay rot-ary distributor having a plurality of insulated segments, a pair of relays operatively associated tlierewith to hold the signal impulse for a duration of time depending upon the number of segments connected "together in a group, and a second pair of vrelays operatively associated with said distributor to transmit the signal impulses to another line or cable section for a dura- 'tion of time depending upon the number of segments connected together.

9. In a telegraph system, the combination `with a plurality of line orcable sections, of

a'relaying equipment comprising a rotary `distributor having a plurality of insulated segments, a pair of relays operatively associated therewith to hold the signal impulse for a` duration` of time determined by.

connecting a certain number of segments t0- gether, and a second pair of relays operatively associated with said distributor to transmit the signal impulses to another line or cable section for a duration of time determined by a dierent number of Vsegments connected together.

In testimony whereof I 'affix my signature.

y WILLIAM C. PETERMAN. 

